Some of the new features included in Windows 7 are progress in touch, speech, and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, support for additional file formats, improved performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance , and kernel fixes.
Video Features new to Windows 7
Shell and user interface
Windows 7 maintains the Windows Aero graphical user interface and visual styles introduced in its predecessor operating system, Windows Vista, but many areas have seen an increase. Unlike Windows Vista, window and taskbar borders do not change blurry when windows is maximized when Windows Aero is on; instead, they remain translucent.
Desktop
Themes
Support for themes has been extended in Windows 7. In addition to providing options to customize the color of chrome windows and other aspects of the interface, including desktop backgrounds, desktop icons, mouse cursors, and sound schemes, the operating system also includes a desktop slideshow feature. A new theme pack extension has been introduced, .themepack , which is basically a cabinet file consisting of theme resources including background images, color preferences, desktop icons, mouse cursors, and sound schemes. The new theme extension simplifies sharing of themes, and can also display desktop wallpapers via RSS feeds provided by the Windows RSS Platform. Microsoft provides additional themes for free through its website.
The default theme that comes with Windows 7 is the namesake theme, and consists of a desktop wallpaper named "Harmony" and the default desktop icon, mouse cursor, and sound scheme introduced in Windows Vista; However, no desktop background is included with Windows Vista present in Windows 7. Additional themes also include: Architecture , Character , Landscape , < i> Nature , and Scenes , and specific country-specific additions specified based on the locale specified when the operating system is installed; all themes included in Windows 7, excluding default themes, including six wallpaper images. Although only the theme for the user's home country is displayed in the user interface, files for all other country-specific themes are included in the operating system. A number of new sound schemes, each associated with the included theme, have also been introduced: Afternoon , Calligraphy , Character , Cityscape , Delta , Festival , Park , Inheritance , Landscape , Weird , Rupa , Savana , and Sonata . Although not a new feature, individual sound schemes can be used in special themes as well. Desktop Slideshows
Windows 7 introduces desktop slideshow features that regularly change desktop wallpapers based on user-defined intervals; this change is accompanied by a smooth faded transition with customizable duration through Windows Registry. The desktop slideshow feature supports local images as well as images obtained through RSS.
Gadget
With Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced gadgets to display information, such as a slide show of images and RSS feeds, on the user's desktop; gadgets can be optionally displayed on the sidebar that is attached to the side of the screen. In Windows 7, the sidebar has been removed, but the gadget can still be placed on the desktop. Gadgets can be brought into the foreground over the active application by pressing ? Win G . Some new features for gadgets are introduced, including new desktop context menu options for accessing gadgets and hiding all active gadgets, high DPI support, and features that can automatically reset gadgets based on the position of other gadgets. New add-on features include optimization for touch-based devices, cached gadget content, and new Windows Media Center gadgets.
Gadgets are more integrated with Windows Explorer, but the gadget itself continues to operate in a single process sidebar.exe , unlike in Windows Vista where gadgets can operate in some sidebar.exe processes. Active gadgets can also be hidden through new desktop menu options; Microsoft has stated that this can generate power saving benefits.
Branding and customization
For original manufacturers and equipment companies, Windows 7 natively supports the ability to customize the wallpapers that are displayed during user login. Since the settings for changing wallpapers are available through Windows Registry, users can also customize the displayed wallpaper. Additional options are also provided for incoming UI, including the ability to customize the display of interface and shadow lighting.
Windows Explorer
Library
Windows Explorer in Windows 7 supports file libraries that collect content from multiple locations - including shared folders on network systems if shared folders have been indexed by the host system - and present them in a unified view. Library hides the actual location where files are stored. Searching in libraries automatically merges queries to the remote system, in addition to searching on the local system, so files on the remote system are also searched. Unlike search folders, Libraries are supported by physical locations that allow files to be stored in the Library. The files are transparently stored in the physical folder backing. The default storage location for libraries can be configured by the user, as well as the default display layout for each library. Libraries are generally stored in dedicated libraries Libraries , which allow them to be displayed in the navigation pane.
By default, new user accounts in Windows 7 contain four libraries for various file types: Docs, Music, Pictures, and Videos. They are configured to include the user profile folder for the corresponding file type, as well as the corresponding Public folder of the computer. The Public Folders also contain the Hidden recording TV library that appears in the sidepane of Windows Explorer when the TV is set in Media Center for the first time.
In addition to combining multiple storage locations, Libraries allow Display Settings and Search Filter Suggestions. Arrangement Views allows you to pivot the look of library content based on metadata. For example, selecting the "By Month" view in the Pictures library will show the photos in the stack, where each stack represents one month of photo by date of capture. In the Music library, the "By Artist" view displays stacks of albums from artists in your collection, and searches into stacks of artists and then displays relevant albums.
Search Filter Suggestions is a new feature of the Windows 7 Explorer search box. When a user clicks in the search box, a menu appears below shows the latest searches as well as the recommended Advanced Query Syntax filter that users can type. When one is selected (or typed manually), the menu will be updated to indicate the value that is likely to be filtered by for that property, and this list is based on the current location and other parts of the typed query. For example, selecting a "tag" filter or typing "tag:" into the search box will display a list of possible tag values ​​that will return search results.
Search Settings and Search Filter View is a database supported feature that requires all locations in the Library to be indexed by the Windows Search service. Local disk locations should be indexed by local indexers, and Windows Explorer will automatically add locations to the indexing scope when they are included in the library. Remote locations can be indexed by indexers on other Windows 7 computers, on Windows machines running Windows Search 4 (such as Windows Vista or Windows Home Server), or on other devices that implement MS-WSP remote request protocols.
Combined search
Windows Explorer also supports federated searches to external data sources, such as custom databases or web services, which are exposed over the web and explained via the OpenSearch definition. A composite location description (called Search Connector ) is provided as a .osdx file. Once installed, the data source becomes queryable directly from Windows Explorer. Windows Explorer features, such as previews and thumbnails, work with combined search results as well.
Improved shell miscellaneous
Windows Explorer has received many small improvements that improve overall functionality. Explorer search boxes and address bar can be resized. Folders such as in the desktop or user profile folder can be hidden in the navigation pane to reduce clutter. New Content Views added, which show thumbnails and shared metadata. New button to change Preview Pane has been added to the toolbar. The button for creating a new folder has been moved from the Organize menu and into the toolbar. The List view provides more space between items than in Windows Vista. Finally, bar storage space that is only present for hard disks in Windows Vista is now displayed for removable storage devices.
Other areas of the shell have also received similar settings: The progress bar and the overlay icon can now appear on the app button on the taskbar to let users know about the status of the app or work that's running better. The file types in which property handlers or iFilters are installed are reindexed by default. Previously, adding submenus to the shell context menu or customizing the context menu behavior for a particular folder is possible only by installing a plug-in form known as shell extension. However, in Windows 7, a computer-savvy user can do so by editing the Windows Registry files and/or desktop.ini . In addition, a new shell API was introduced to simplify the writing of shell menu context extensions by software developers.
Windows 7 includes native support for burning ISO files. This functionality is available when the user selects the Burn disc image option in the ISO file context menu. Support for disk image verification is also included. In earlier versions of Windows, users were prompted to install third-party software to burn ISO images.
Orb starts now has a fade-in spotlight effect when the user hovers the mouse cursor over it. The right-hand column of the Start Menu is now Aero's glass color. In Windows Vista, it's always black.
The Windows 7 Start menu preserves its predecessor two-column layout, with some functional changes:
- The "Documents", "Images" and "Music" buttons are now linked to the Library of the same name.
- The "Device and Printers" option has been added that shows the new device manager.
- The "shut down" icon in Windows Vista has been replaced with a text link indicating what action will be taken when the icon is clicked. The default action to take now can be configured through the Taskbar window and Start Menu Properties.
- The Taskbar Jump List is presented in the Start Menu via guillemet; when the user moves the mouse cursor to the guillemet, or pressing the right arrow key, the right side of the Start menu is widened and replaced with the App Direct List.
- Links to the "Videos", "Downloads", and "TV Recording" folders can now be added to the Start menu.
The Search Starts field, introduced in Windows Vista, has been expanded to support the Control Panel item keyword search. For example, clicking the Start button then typing "wireless" will display Control Panel options related to configuration and connection to wireless network, Bluetooth device addition, and troubleshooting. The Group Policy setting for Windows Explorer provides the ability for administrators of Active Directory domains, or expert users to add up to five Internet websites and five additional "search connectors" to Search Results views in the Start menu. The links, which appear at the bottom of the panel, allow searches to be re-executed on selected websites or search connectors. Microsoft recommends that network administrators can use this feature to enable a company Intranet search or an internal SharePoint server.
Taskbar
The Windows Taskbar has seen the most significant revision since it was introduced in Windows 95 and incorporated the previous Quick Launch function with the open application window icon. The taskbar is now displayed as a Aero glass element whose color can be changed through the Personalized Control Panel. It's 10 pixels taller than in Windows Vista to accommodate larger touch screen inputs and new larger standard icon sizes (although smaller taskbar sizes are available), and retain the proportion to the newer higher-resolution monitor mode. Running apps are marked with a border frame around the icon. Within this limit, the color effect (depending on the prominent RGB icon value) that follows the mouse cursor also indicates the status of the opened application. The glass taskbar is more transparent than in Windows Vista. The taskbar button displays the icon by default instead of the app title, unless it is set to 'unassociated', or 'merge it when the taskbar is full.' In this case, only icons are shown when the app is not running. Programs that are executed or embedded on the taskbar can be rearranged. Items in the notification area can also be reset.
Picked apps
The Quick Launch toolbar has been removed from the default configuration, but can be easily added. Windows 7 taskbar is more application-oriented than window-oriented, and therefore does not display window titles (this is indicated when the app icon is clicked or hangs over). Apps can now be embedded into taskbar that allows users to instantly access their usual applications. There are several ways to embed an app into the taskbar. The icon may be dragged and dropped onto the taskbar, or the app icon can be right-clicked to embed it into the taskbar.
Preview thumbnail
The thumbnail preview introduced in Windows Vista has been expanded to not only look at windows opened by apps in a small thumbnail view, but also interact with them. Users can close any open windows by clicking X in the appropriate thumbnail preview. The window name is also displayed in the thumbnail preview. A "peek" in the window is obtained by hovering over the thumbnail preview. Snooping shows only a thumbnail preview window where the mouse cursor hovers, and turns another window on a transparent desktop. It also works for tabs in Internet Explorer: individual tabs can be viewed in the thumbnail preview. Thumbnails previews integrate Thumbnail Toolbars that can control apps from their own thumbnail previews. For example, if Windows Media Player is opened and the mouse cursor hovers in the app icon, the thumbnail preview will allow the user the ability to Play, Stop and Play the Next/Previous track without having to switch to the Windows Media Player window.
Jump list
Live List is an available menu option by right-clicking the taskbar icon or holding the left mouse button and scrolling towards the center of the desktop on the icon. Each app has a jump list that matches its features, Microsoft Word displays recently opened documents; Recent Windows Media Player Tracks and playlists; Recent Internet Explorer search history and options to open a new tab or start InPrivate Browsing; Common Windows Live Messenger tasks like instant messaging, exit, and change online status. Up to 10 menu items may appear in the list, some may be customized by the user.
Job progress
The progress bar in the taskbar task allows the user to know the progress of a task without resorting to a pending window. Progress assignments are used in Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer and third-party software.
Notification area
The notification area has been redesigned; Standard Volume, Network, Power, and Action icons The standard center exists, but no other app icons are displayed unless the user has selected them to display. A new "Notification Area Icons" control panel has been added which replaces the "Customize Notification Icons" dialog box in the "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" window first introduced in Windows XP. In addition to configuring whether an app icon is displayed, the ability to hide any app notification balloons has been added. Users can then see notifications later.
The triangle to the left of the visible notification icon displays a hidden notification icon. Unlike Windows Vista and Windows XP, hidden icons appear in the window above the taskbar, not on the taskbar. Icons can be dragged between this window and the notification area.
Aero Peek
In earlier versions of Windows, the taskbar ended with a notification area on the right side. Windows 7, however, introduces a desktop show button on the far right side of the taskbar that can start the Aero Peek feature that makes all windows open translucent when hovering over the mouse cursor. Clicking this button shows the desktop, and clicking it again brings all the windows to focus. The new button replaces the shortcut show desktop located on the Quick Launch toolbar in earlier versions of Windows.
On touch-based devices, Aero Peek can be started by pressing and holding the event desktop button; touching the button itself shows the desktop. The keypad also increases in width to accommodate being pressed by the finger.
Mouse mouse window management
Aero Snap
Windows can be dragged to the top of the screen to maximize it and be dragged to recover it. Dragging a window to the left or right of the screen makes it take half the screen, allowing users to arrange two windows next to each other. Also, resizing the window to the bottom of the screen or the top will extend the window to full height but maintain its width. These features can be disabled through the Access Ease Center if the user does not want the window to resize automatically.
Aero Shake
Aero Shake allows users to clear all the clutter on their screen by shaking (dragging back and forth) their selection window with the mouse. All other windows will be minimized, while the shake user window remains active on the screen. When the window is shuffled again, everything is restored, similar to a desktop preview. Use it when you have multiple windows open on your desktop. This feature will minimize all windows except the ones you shake. Click and hold on the window title bar you need to open and shake the mouse. The shutters you shake will maximize and everything else will be minimized. To restore all windows, shake the mouse again while holding on to the open window title bar.
Keyboard shortcuts
New keyboard shortcuts have been introduced.
Taskbar:
- Shift Click , or Middle click start a new instance of the app, regardless of whether it is running.
- Ctrl Shift Click start a new instance with Administrator privileges; by default, the User Account Control prompt will be displayed.
- Right-click Shift (or right-clicking the program thumbnail) shows a context menu titlebar that, by default, contains "Restore", "Move", "Size", "Maximize", "Minimize" and "Close" command. If the icon clicked is a grouped icon, a special context menu with the "Restore All", "Minimize All", and "Close All" commands are displayed.
- Ctrl Click on the icon cycles grouped between windows (or tabs) in groups.
Font management
The user interface for font management has been overhauled in Windows 7. Like Windows Vista, the collection of installed fonts is displayed in the Windows Explorer window, but fonts that come from the same font family appear as icons that are represented as stacks of displayed font previews in the interface. Windows 7 also introduced an option to hide installed fonts; certain fonts are automatically removed from view based on the user's regional settings. Options to hide manually installed fonts are also available. Hidden fonts remain installed but not mentioned when the app requests a list of available fonts, thereby reducing the number of fonts to scroll through the interface and also reducing memory usage. Windows 7 includes over 40 new fonts, including the new "Gabriola" font.
The dialog box for fonts in Windows 7 has also been updated to display the font face in the interface, allowing users to view fonts before selecting them. Previous versions of windows show only font names.
The ClearType Text Tuner previously available as Microsoft Powertoy for earlier versions of Windows has been integrated into, and updated for Windows 7.
Microsoft will give backport Windows 8 Emoji feature to Windows 7.
Device
There are two major new user interface components for device management in Windows 7, "Devices and Printers" and "Device Stats". Both are integrated with Windows Explorer, and together provide a simplified view of what devices are connected to the computer, and what capabilities they support.
Devices and Printers
Devices and Printers are new Control Panel interfaces that can be accessed directly from the Start menu. Unlike the Device Manager Device Controls applet, which still exists, icons displayed on the Devices and Printers screen are limited to system components that will be recognized by unauthorized users as plug-in devices. For example, an external monitor connected to the system will be displayed as a device, but an internal monitor on the laptop will not. Device-specific features are available through the context menu for each device; the external monitor context menu, for example, provides a link to the "Display Settings" control panel.
The new Applet Control Panel also replaces the "Printers" window in earlier versions of Windows; Common printer operations such as default printer settings, installing or removing printers, and configuring properties such as paper size are done through this control panel.
Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 introduce print driver isolation, which improves the reliability of print spoolers by running the printer driver in a separate process to the spooler service. If a third-party print driver fails when it is isolated, it does not affect other drivers or print spooler services.
Device Stage
Device Stage provides a centralized location for externally connected multi-function devices to present its functionality to users. When devices like portable music players connect to the system, the device appears as an icon in the taskbar, as well as in Windows Explorer.
Windows 7 ships with high resolution images from a number of popular devices, and is able to connect to the Internet to download images of unrecognized devices. Opening the icon will show a window showing the actions relevant to that device. The tech screenshot presented by Microsoft shows that the phone can offer options for two-way sync, configure ringtones, copy images and videos, manage devices in Windows Media Player, and use Windows Explorer to navigate the device. Other device status information such as free memory and battery life can also be displayed. The actual per-device functionality is determined through an XML file that was downloaded when the device was first connected to the computer, or provided by the manufacturer on the installation disk.
Maps Features new to Windows 7
Mobility Improvements
Multi-touch support
Hilton Locke, which works on the Tablet PC team at Microsoft, reported on December 11, 2007 that Windows 7 will have a new touch feature on devices that support multi-touch. The description and demonstration of multi-touch capabilities, including virtual piano programs, mapping and direction programs, and Touch-aware versions of Microsoft Paint, are given at All Things Digital Conference on May 27, 2008; video multi-touch capabilities available on the web on the same day.
Sensor
Windows 7 introduces native support for sensors, including accelerometer sensors, ambient light sensors, and location-based sensors; the operating system also provides an integrated driver model for sensor devices. The use of this well-known technology in Windows 7 is a feature of the operating system's adaptive display brightness, which automatically adjusts the brightness of compatible computer screens based on environmental conditions and light factors. Gadgets developed for Windows 7 can also display location-based information. Applications for specific sensor capabilities can be developed without the necessary hardware.
Because data obtained by multiple sensors can be considered personal identifiable information, all sensors are disabled by default in Windows 7, and accounts in Windows 7 require administrative permission to enable the sensor. Sensors also require user consent to share location data.
Power management
Battery notice message
Unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows 7 can report when a laptop battery requires a replacement. The operating system works with design capabilities present in modern laptop batteries to report this information.
Hibernation enhancements
The powercfg command allows customization of hibernation file sizes. By default, Windows 7 automatically sets the hibernation file size to 75% of the total physical memory of the computer. The operating system also compresses the memory contents during the hibernate process to minimize the likelihood that the content exceeds the standard file size of hibernation.
Power analysis and reporting
Windows 7 introduces new /Energy parameters for the powercfg command, which generates energy efficiency HTML computer reports and displays information related to the device or settings.
USB suspension
Windows 7 can separately suspend the USB hub and support selective suspension for all USB class drivers in the box.
Graph
DirectX
- Direct3D 11 is included with Windows 7. This is a strict super-set of Direct3D 10.1, which was introduced in Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008.
- Direct2D and DirectWrite, new hardware vector acceleration graphics and rendering fonts built on Direct3D 10 intended to replace GDI/GDI for native-code graphics and screen-oriented text images. They can be used from apps managed with Windows API Code Pack
- Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP), a software rasterizer component for DirectX that provides all the capabilities of Direct3D 10.0 and 10.1 in software.
- DirectX Video Acceleration-High Definition (DXVA-HD)
Direct3D 11, Direct2D, DirectWrite, DXGI 1.1, WARP and some other components are currently available for Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 by installing Platform Update for Windows Vista.
Desktop Window Manager
First introduced in Windows Vista, the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) in Windows 7 has been updated to use the Direct3D API version 10.1, and its performance has improved significantly.
Desktop Window Manager still requires at least a Direct3D 9-capable video card (supported with the newly introduced D3D10_FEATURE_LEVEL_9_n d3D10_FEATURE_LEVEL_9_n device type = "" dir = "ltr"> Direct3D 11).
With video drivers compatible with Windows Display Driver Model v1.1, the kernel DXGI in Windows 7 provides 2D hardware acceleration to APIs such as GDI, Direct2D and DirectWrite (although GDI is not updated to use this functionality). This allows DWM to use significantly lower amounts of system memory, which does not increase despite how many windows are opened, like in Windows Vista. Systems equipped with WDDM 1.0 video cards will operate in the same way as in Windows Vista, using software rendering only.
Desktop Window Manager in Windows 7 also adds support for systems that use multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors.
Other changes
Support for 30 and 48 bit color depths is included, along with wide color gamut gamut (which for HDMI 1.3 can be converted and output as xvYCC). Supported video modes on Windows 7 are 16-bit sRGB, 24-bit sRGB, 30-bit sRGB, 30-bit with extended sRGB gamut color, and 48-bit scRGB.
Every user of Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 has individual DPI settings, not machines that have a single setting like in previous versions of Windows. The DPI settings can be changed by incoming and outgoing, without the need to restart.
File system
Solid state drive
Over time, several technologies have been incorporated into the next version of Windows to improve the performance of the operating system on traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) with rotating disks. Because the Solid State Drive (SSD) differs from the mechanical HDD in some key areas (no moving parts, write amplification, limited number of removal cycles allowed for reliable operation), it is useful to disable certain optimizations and add others, especially to SSD.
Windows 7 incorporates many engineering changes to reduce the frequency of writing and flushes, which benefit SSDs especially as each write operation uses flash memory.
Windows 7 also uses the TRIM command. If supported by an SSD (not implemented on the original device), it optimizes when deleting the cycle, reducing the need to remove blocks before each write and improving write performance.
Some tools and techniques applied in the past to reduce the impact of traditional HDD rotation latency, especially disk defragmentation, SuperFetch, ReadyBoost, and launching of application launches, involve reorganizing (rewriting) data on the disk. Because SSDs do not have a moving dish, this reorganization has no advantages, and may shorten the solid state memory life. Therefore, these tools are by default disabled on SSDs in Windows 7, except for some early-generation SSDs that may still be useful.
Finally, the partitions created with the Windows 7 partitioning tool are created taking into account the need for SSD alignment, avoiding unwanted systematic systematic amplification.
Virtual hard disk
The Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows 7 combine support for Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) file formats. VHD files can be installed as drives, created, and booted from, in the same way as WIM files. In addition, the installed version of Windows 7 can be booted and run from VHD drives, even on non-virtual hardware, thus providing a new way to multi-boot Windows. Some features like hibernation and BitLocker are not available at boot from VHD.
Disk partitions
By default, the computer disk is partitioned into two partitions: one limited size for booting, BitLocker and running Windows Recovery Environment and the second with the operating system and user files.
Removable media
Windows 7 has also seen improvements in the Safely Remove Hardware menu, including the ability to eject just one camera card at the same time (from one hub) and retain the port for future use without a reboot; and removable media labels are now also listed, not just the drive letter. Windows Explorer now by default only displays the memory card reader port in My Computer if it contains the card.
BitLocker to Go
BitLocker brings encryption support to removable disks such as USB drives. Such devices can be protected by a passphrase, recovery key, or automatically unlocked on the computer.
Boot performance
According to data collected from the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), 35% of Vista SP1 boot installations in 30 seconds or less. Longer boot time on the rest of the machine is mainly due to some services or programs that are loaded but not needed when the system first starts. Microsoft Mike Fortin, a leading engineer on the Windows team, noted in August 2008 that Microsoft has set aside teams to work only on this issue, and the team aims to "significantly increase the number of systems that experience excellent boot time". They "are very focused on improving the parallelism of driver initialization". Also, Microsoft aims to "dramatically reduce" the number of system services, along with their demands on processors, storage, and memory.
Multimedia
Windows Media Center
Windows Media Center in Windows 7 has retained much of the design and feel of its predecessor, but with a variety of user interface shortcuts and browsing capabilities. H.264 video playback either locally or via Media Center Extender (including Xbox 360) is supported.
Some important improvements in Windows 7 Media Center include a new mini guide, a new scrub bar, options for color code guides by event type, and more internet content integrated with regular TV through the guide. All Windows 7 versions now support up to four tuners of each type (QAM, ATSC, CableCARD, NTSC, etc.).
When searching through media libraries, items that do not have album art appear in a range of foreground and background color combinations instead of using white text on a blue background. When the left or right remote control buttons are pressed to browse the library quickly, the two-letter prefix of the current album name is clearly displayed as a visual aid. The Picture Library includes new slideshow capabilities, and individual images can be assessed.
Also, while browsing through the media library, a new column appears at the top called "Shared." This allows users to access shared media libraries in other Media Center PCs directly from within Media Center.
For television support, the Windows Media Center "TV Packages" released by Microsoft in 2008 was incorporated into Windows Media Center. This includes support for QAM ClearCARD and North American tuners (ATSC), as well as creating a list of favorite stations.
Gadgets for Windows Media Center are also included.
Format support
Windows 7 includes AVI, WAV, AAC/ADTS file media sinks to read each format, source MPEG-4 files to read MP4, M4A, M4V, MP4V MOV and 3GP container formats and MPEG-4 sink files for output to MP4 format. Windows 7 also includes media sources for reading MPEG transport stream/MPEG-2 BDAV transport stream file (M2TS, MTS, M2T and AVCHD).
Transcoding support (encoding) is not exposed through native Windows applications but codecs are included as Media Foundation Transforms (MFTs). In addition to Windows Media Audio and Windows Media Video encoder and decoder, and ASF files and source files introduced in Windows Vista, Windows 7 includes an H.264 encoder with Baseline level 3 profile and Main profile support and AAC Low Complexity (AAC Low Complexity) LC) a profile encoder.
To play various media formats, Windows 7 also introduces H.264 decoder with Baseline, Main, and High profile support, up to level 5.1, AAC-LC and HE-AAC v1 (SBR) multichannel, HE-AAC v2 (PS) Stereo decoder , MPEG-4 Part 2 Simple Profiles and a Sophisticated Simple Profile Decoder that includes decoding of popular codec implementations such as DivX, Xvid and Nero Digital as well as MJPEG and DV MFT decoder for AVI. Windows Media Player 12 uses the built-in Media Foundation codec to play this format by default.
Windows 7 also updated DirectShow filters introduced in Windows Vista for MPEG-2 and Dolby Digital playback to decode H.264, AAC, HE-AAC v1 and v2 and Dolby Digital Plus (including downmix to Dolby Digital).
Security
Action Center, formerly Windows Security Center, now includes security and maintenance. (This is called Windows Health Center and Windows Solution Center in previous versions).
A new user interface for User Account Control has been introduced, providing the ability to select four different notification levels, one of these notification settings, Default , new for Windows 7. Geographic tracking capabilities are also available in Windows 7 This feature will be disabled by default. When enabled, users will have only limited controls for which app can track their location.
The Encryption File System supports Elliptic curve cryptographic algorithms (ECC) in Windows 7. For backward compatibility with previous Windows releases, Windows 7 supports mixed mode operations from ECC and RSA algorithms. Self-signed EFS certificates, when using ECC, will use 256-bit keys by default. EFS can be configured to use 1K/2k/4k/8k/16k-bit keys when using self-signed RSA certificates, or 256/384/512-bit keys when using ECC certificates.
In Windows Vista, the User Protection-Audio Mode (PUMA) content protection facility is only available for applications running in Protected Media Path environments. Since only the Media Foundation application programming interface can interact with this environment, the media player application must be designed to use the Media Foundation. In Windows 7, this restriction is revoked. PUMA also incorporates tighter enforcement of the "Copy Never" bit while using Serial Copy Copy (SCMS) copy protection through S/PDIF connections, as well as with High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) via HDMI connection.
Biometric
Windows 7 includes a new Windows Biometric Framework. This framework consists of a set of components
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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